Why Argentina
One of the first things my girlfriend, Kate, told me was that she'd love to visit her Grandad in Argentina. We recently got that opportunity.
We (the travel agent) set out a plan to spend time with Kate's Grandad and see a few of the amazing sights Argentina had to offer. Kate and I are both very interested in anything to do with nature and it was important to us this was heavily reflected in the itinerary. It takes a lot to get me excited (robot?). As I was unusually content with spending the money, I must have been excited. It was looking like the agent had done a good job.
The Flight
I've seen a fair amount of what Europe has to offer but I've never been further. This was going to comfortably be the longest flight I had ever been on. I had heard tales from many people of the wide range of inflight entertainment that can be available on long flights and I was looking forward to seeing what was available in the inflight entertainment (excited?) . I am rightly considered a film buff by those in my circle, so had planned to spend my waking hours during flights watching movies. Here is a brief summary of the films I watched, to and from Argentina:
- Alien: Covenant - Started watching this film before we had even taken off. In the film's first scene, the crew of a spaceship are struggling to fly whilst explosions are happening throughout the ship. This coincided with our plane actually taking off. The vibrations of the plane made it feel like true 4D entertainment. The film itself was good but derivative of previous films and a tad predictable. Would have regarded it much higher if I had never seen the previous films in the franchise. Three stars. ***
- Spiderman: Homecoming - I much prefer DC to Marvel but the most recent Marvel films have been good and I'd heard good things about this one. Enjoyed it. Won't feel the need to watch it again. Three stars. ***
- Transformers: The Last Knight - This was the first film Kate and I watched on the plane back to the UK. We had spent the last of our holiday money on beer and managed to get three bottles of wine each with our inflight meal. This may have played a role in us finding this film f***ing brilliant. Generally not a fan of forced humour but for some reason I was really into it. The action and special affects were awesome! The story was pretty cool (nerdy). Five Stars. *****
- The Beguiled - Not the sort of film I would normal ever watch through my own choice. For some reason the blurb sounded interesting and the combination of Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman got me to press play. I wasn't disappointed. The restrained performances helped ease me in and when s**t smoothly progressed into hitting the fan it affected me physically. The urge to grab each character, sit them down and tell them to "Chill the f**k out" was almost too much for me to bear. Solid four stars. ****
- Baby Driver - This film had received great reviews but for some reason I wasn't fussed about watching it. Kate had watched it earlier in the flight and recommended it. I gave it a go and was so annoyed I hadn't watched it earlier. Brilliant! The sad thing was that because I waited so long I never got to see the final 15 minutes. Unless something daft happened in the last 15 minutes, such as "They woke up and it was all a dream", this is a five star film. *****
We landed in Buenos Aires and were met by Kate's Grandad and his partner Delma. They drove us to a hotel in the city, took some of our luggage back to their house and left us all alone in a foreign land. We had to get a plane to Patagonia, in the south, at 5am the next day. It made more sense to stay at a hotel near the airport rather than make the journey out of the city only to return again during rush hour the next day.
Patagonia
We stayed at a pretty trendy hotel in Puerto Madryn (North-East of Patagonia). We stayed in a spacious room with a balcony that overlooked the beach. We were knackered when we arrived so we lay on the bed watching Argentinian TV. I can not begin to explain how much more entertaining the film 'Twilight' is when dubbed in Spanish. The voice actors blew their counterparts out of the water.
We explored the North of Patagonia as part of a mini bus tour. There were five couples in our group and were were the youngest by at least three decades. Each couple was from a different country. The tour guides were great, switching between talking in Spanish and English. They were very knowledgable about the history and wildlife of Patagonia. All the things I find interesting.
Patagonia is beautiful. The land is very flat and arid and the vegetation in Patagonia consists of many small and study bushes. I have always liked the idea of living on a ranch in the middle of a land like this, surrounded by nothing but the horizon, emptiness and nature. Despite the landscape, there was a fair amount of wildlife. We saw several groups of Guanacos (Argentinian Llama) and herds of sheep. Every now and then we would see a male Emu being followed by half a dozen very large chicks. The guides told us it is the Male Emu that rears the chicks alone and can often be found protecting up to a dozen chicks that are mostly not their own.
The tour took us to Peninsula Valdes, in North-East Patagonia, to see a Penguin Colony. I could never have imagined seeing so many Penguins in the flesh. Sure, I'd seen many a David Attenborough documentary but to live the experience felt important to me.
We were told to stick to the marked path when touring the colony and if a Penguin looked like it was going to cross in front of us to stop and give it right of way. Under every other bush was a male penguin had dug a hole to use as a nest to incubate their eggs and there were nests only inches away from the path. I don't think the Penguins would have cared if we left the path or didn't stop to let them cross. They didn't flinch when groups of people stopped a foot from them to take photos. They occasionally looked up at us casually, then looked away at something more interesting.
The path took us to the top of a small cliff overlooking the bay and a stream that joined the sea. The majority of the Penguins we saw were in their nests or standing in front of it sunning themselves. We were watching some Penguins making their ways to the sea from the beach and others from the stream where we noticed the Seals. There was a Seal smack bang in the middle of the bay who kept popping under water, we think to hide from and ambush the Penguins. The other Seal was at the mouth of the stream doing the same. The Penguins must have known they were there because they kept going into the sea and then turning and running back, undecided what they should do.
After visiting the Penguin colony we got back in the bus and were taken to an Elephant Seal colony. I could not tell you how many we saw. Possibly a hundred. Most of them were the "smaller" females with some calfs. There were a few monster males dotted around the beach. The term 'Elephant Seals' did not do some of these guys justice. 'Juggernaut Seals' would have been more appropriate.
It was amazing to see animals in the wild that we had seen on television. Sure, I had been to zoos but seeing them unconfined doing what they do naturally was awesome. Now I look back on it it feels different, It feels similar to when I saw Stanley Tucci, or Stephen Amel at Heroes and Villains, in London. Somebody I knew and was familiar with but had never met. A casual memory.
I am so glad we decided to do this. I have enjoyed going on beach holidays, sunbathing all day. Sometimes it's what is needed but there is nothing special about it. Sure, it may be relaxing but it is unlikely to create memories that will be cherished for years to come.
The Welsh
By the year 1818, both Argentina and Chile declared independence from Spain. The problem was they both claimed to have inherited overlapping parts of Patagonia. In 1865 Welsh immigrants began to settle around the lower part of a valley near the Andes. In deciding where the boarder between the two countries was, the Welsh settlers were asked wether they consider themselves Argentinian or Chilean. They said Argentinian and as a result, Argentina's boarder reaches past where they settled and is a larger country for it. When ever we saw the Argentinian flag in Patagonia the Welsh flag was always next to it.
As part of our tour we were taken to a Welsh town called Gaiman. Here they still speak Welsh and maintain several Welsh traditions. The biggest attraction in the village was a Welsh Tea Room. It was this very Team Room that Princess Diana once visited. They even had a display where they kept the chair she sat on and cup she drank from alongside photos of her visit.
It was really quite amazing. A lot of my family live in Wales and I used to visit several times a year. The thing that struck me first was how familiar the gardens seemed. There must be a Welsh style to gardening as the ground were so similar to those in the many parks in Swansea. There was a giant Teapot in the garden that also encapsulated this style. All of this on the other side of the world.
(This is not something I could previously imagined myself making a point of talking about but it really was worth the visit.)
Inside the Tea Room was where the magic happened. There were giant piles of cakes, scones, bread and jams. The cakes were amazing with 10 to chose from. I had a black welsh cake, lemon curd cake, scones, some welsh bread with welsh salted butter and “Cintron”. Im not a big fan of tea but I must have had at least five cups. It was a surprising highlight of our time in Argentina.
The Whales
The main reason we chose to visit Patagonia is that it's a prime place for Whale watching. In particular the Southern Right Whale (named so by Whale hunters because of their slow speed, docile nature and high blubber content. They were the 'right' Whale to hunt.)
The tour bus took us to a beach and after being given our life jackets got onto a boat with about forty other tourists. The boat left the shore and headed for the middle of the bay. Like everyday in Argentina, the weather was great. Blue skies. Calm seas. Even if we weren't there to Whale watch it would have been a nice trip just to view the cliffs and surrounding area.
The first Whale we saw was no more than fifty meters away. Slowly coming up to breath before returning down again. The boat stopped and after a few minutes the Whale returned to breath before going down. There was a bit of wait until the Whale came up again so the boat was slowly taken further out.
A Whale came up thirty meters away. It dove back under, then cam up again even closer. It did this a few times, each time closer to the boat until it was right in front of us, curiously looking at us, wondering what we were doing. It was a once in a lifetime moment. I still can not believe I was so close to such a massive and rare creature.
After the Whale went under the boat and swam off the driver took us further out. We saw many more Whales, including a few mothers with their calfs. The calfs were funny. They were often laying at the surface on the backs, bellies in the air with their mothers nudging them along. It was like a toddler throwing a strop in a supermarket and the parent just dragging it along with them.
It was not just Whales that we saw. At one point there was a shriek from a passenger. We turned around and saw a large pod of Common Dolphins coming rights past us. This possibly trumped the Whale coming up to the boat. There were so many of them it was a few minutes before they had all passed us. Such an awesome sight!
Iguazu
Iguazu is a strong front runner for the most beautiful place I have ever been. The landscape consists of more lush green forrest than could ever be imagined under a perfect pale blue sky. The beauty went on and on. Iguazu is also HOT!!! Thirty-five degrees hot. I didn't think it was possible to feel as hot as it was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. It put me into a state of shock because as soon as we arrived at the hotel, all I wanted to do was go a buy a sleeveless t-shirt. I remember feeling what verged on genuine panic that I didn't have enough of them.
The hotel was truly luxurious. A large pool that became warm from midday onwards. A jacuzzi. It sat on top of a hill by the side of the Iguazu river and rain forrest. Like the outside, the interior was immaculate. There were three different restaurant areas. Loosely, one for each meal of the day but if you wanted you could eat where you wanted.
One day, having been spoilt by the sun, Kate and I felt like chilling inside for a bit. There was a comfy living room area with a big screen TV where I persuaded Kate to watch the second leg of the Italy VS Sweden World Cup qualification match. This called for snacks. A tray of dried meats, cheeses, bread with balsamic vinegar, washed down with Argentina's most popular beer, Quilmes. That hit the spot. Kate ordered us two Irish coffees. She noticed they had just given us coffee so one of the staff came over with a bottle of Baileys and poured 3-4 shots worth into each of our cups. I have decided that I really like Irish coffee.
The Iguazu river is famous for owning the largest water fall system in the world. It reaches as high as 200m and consist 275 individual water falls. Niagara Falls eat your heart out!
The Iguazu national park tour offered a huge number of photo opportunities as well as views that ranged between stunning landscapes and intimate views of nature. All of this in 30 plus degree heat. It you want to see everything then you will be doing a lot of walking. Luckily, Kate and I invested in some walking shoes before the holiday. I decided on buying the only ones that didn't make me look like a military wannabe and they were worth it. Not a single blister or issue. They were comparable to walking on a robust cloud.
The tour was so beautiful. I won't say how many photos I took, but it was so astounding that I didn't want to be without any memory of what I saw that day.
The greenery and the falls were not the only memorable experiences of the tour. There was plenty of wildlife. Exotic birds, insects, lizards. Throughout the tour there were several signs warning about the dangers of an animal called a Coati. We were advised not to touch them and shown pictures of the bloody injuries they could inflict if we did.
As we got further into the Iguazu rain forrest we began to encounter Coatis at increasing numbers. They were interesting to watch, resembling the offspring of a Racoon and a small dog. Most of their time was spent scavenging for food on the forest floor. They were wary of tourists but not scared of them and could occasionally be seen walking through crowds to their next meal.
At one point in the day we were on an elevated walkway and Kate was leaning over the barrier to take a photo of a lizard on a tree. A Coati was casually walking along the top of the barrier and stopped less than a foot from Kate and sat down, waiting for her to get out of its way. I was a few meters away and called to get her attention. She turned, smiled and waved at me, misinterpreting why I was getting her attention. When she realised I was gesturing for her to look in the other direction she got a little bit of a shock and jumped out of the way. The Coati stood up and casually walked past as if nothing remarkable had happened.
The Iguazu Falls are on the border between Argentina and Brazil. The first day of our Iguazu tour was on the Argentinian side. Most of the tour and best views were in the Argentinian side. On our second day of touring Iguazu we crossed the boarder into Brazil. Whilst there was not as much to see it was here the tour took us right into the face of one of the falls. It was not one of the highest but in terms of the volume of water it moved, it was intimidating.
A large concrete building was set into the cliff alongside the fall. It allowed us to choose how involved we wanted our experience of the fall to be. A platform had been made over the river to allow people to walk right into the face of the fall. Here we experienced much more of the power of the falls than at any other place in the tour. The noise and wind it created was mind blowing. Before getting to the falls we'd bought long rain jackets that went down to our knees. Despite these we ended up being 100% drenched. It was great! One of those moments you watch other people do online and wish you could be there and we did it. We loved it!
Goodbye
As I mentioned, it takes a lot to enthuse me. Despite this I came away loving Argentina. Prior to the holiday my experience of Argentina consisted of being taught about the Falkland War at school and watching England get knocked out in the World Cup quarter finals. I had some ignorant idea about Argentinians hating us. In reality they love the Welsh and every other song I heard on a radio station or in a restaurant was a Queen or Beatles classic. The generosity and friendliness of Argentina is now legendary to me. When traveling on a bus, each time a new passenger got on they called out with a smile "Buenos dias" and the rest of the passengers would reply the same. I miss that. In preparation for our trip we started learning Spanish (through Duolingo) and since returning I have kept it up with the hope of return and experiencing the latin culture again.